Arapahoe Basin Goes With Six-Pack for Lenawee Triple Replacement

Background

After taking initial steps to make the project happen earlier this year, Arapahoe Basin has signed a contract with Leitner-Poma to replace the Lenawee Triple chair with a detachable six-pack lift for the 2022-23 season. The project will increase the capacity of the Lenawee lift by 33%, rising maximum throughput from 1,800 people per hour to 2,400. While a quad lift could have provided the same capacity as the proposed six-pack, the A-Basin team says the six-pack setup would provide more stability in high winds and would be “far more effective” in achieving the advertised capacity.

Our Take

Following the Pallavicini and Molly Hogan upgrades, it’s only natural that Arapahoe Basin is moving to upgrade the Lenawee chair next. This lift provides the main access to upper-mountain areas and some of A-Basin’s best intermediate terrain, and the slow, wind-exposed setup of the current triple chair is not enjoyable for guests to ride. On windy days, it’s arguably one of the most excruciating lift rides in all of Colorado.

Just the high-speed experience alone will provide an environment that’s leaps and bounds ahead of the current setup. But what’s interesting to us is A-Basin’s rationale for going with a six-pack rather than a quad—wind stability rather than extra capacity. Other wind-exposed resorts such as Palisades Tahoe have employed similar strategies, but their six-packs sometimes run at lower-than-normal lift speeds, at least when compared to other high-speed chairs. While A-Basin could technically go with a six-pack chair that offers higher capacity, we still expect the proposed setup to offer some crowding relief during the busy peak times (which are still nowhere near as busy as at other Colorado resorts). If needed, it may also be possible for the resort to add additional chairs to the lift for higher capacity at a later date.

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